Monday, November 15, 2010

Mango Shrimp Salad

Refreshing! This is a nice tropical salad with a great flavor combination of spices, mango and shrimp. My two favorite fruits are in this recipe. Carambola and mango. Green carambola has a very mild limeade refreshing flavor that goes very well with mango and shrimp. Ripe sweet and refreshing yellow or orange carambola can be used in this salad too. While working as a chef in a Florida gulf coast 7 star resort, I spotted a carambola tree in a wealthy neighborhood. The tree was full of ripe orange carambola. I could never understand why wealthy people would let the fruits of their ornamental trees just fall to the ground uneaten. So asked if I could pick some carambola and if the tree fruit was pesticide free. The answer was "yes, take as many as you want to"! It was dusk turning dark when I started picking carambola. After climbing around on every branch of that tree, I picked almost every carambola fruit there was. I finished an hour after dark. I ended up with five wine boxes full of carambola and just a few scratches! I sold all but a dozen of the fruit to the banquet chef at the resort. Good ripe carambola is a real prize in a tropical resort kitchen. The star fruit shape is very nice to garnish plates with. Climbing fruit trees is great exercise too!Recipe: Boil about 8-10 medium size shrimp in water till they are fully cooked. Cool the shrimp under cold water. Peel and devein the shrimp. Slice the shrimp in half from head to tail. Place the shrimp in a mixing bowl. Add little bit each of small diced, celery and red bell pepper. Add a thin sliced green onion top. Add a small handful of small diced peeled ripe mango. Add a pinch or two of chopped fresh parsley. Add a dollop of mayonnaise. (Don't use too much mayonnaise or the salad will become soupy.) Add a few pinches of minced ginger. Add a small squeeze of lime juice. Add a pinch each of: cumin, coriander, allspice, white pepper and sea salt. Mix the mango shrimp salad together. Chill the salad before serving. Assembly: Place a few small lettuce leaf tips on the center of a plate. Set some broccoli sprouts on the lettuce. Surround the lettuce with sliced carambola. Use a ring mold to set the mango shrimp salad on the sprouts on the middle of the plate. Remove the ring mold and garnish the salad with a parsley leaf. The flavor and texture of this salad is so appealing! Shrimp and mango are in every bite. The spice mix is perfect for this salad. Eating the mango shrimp with the carambola slices and sprouts is a very tasty tropical grazing experience. Delicious! ... Shawna